Seven Useful Spanish Phrases For Eating Out With Small Kids In Mexico

Published by Cassie on 16/02/201816/02/2018

Seven Useful Phrases For Eating Out With Small Kids In Mexico

If you’re travelling around Mexico, or any other Spanish speaking country with kids in tow, you will no doubt find yourself in a restaurant trying to find food they will eat because, let’s face it, kids can be fussy little buggers and they see no reason to change just because you’ve taken them somewhere interesting. So, what you need, are my seven useful phrases for eating out with small kids in Mexico.

Handily, Mexico is extremely child-friendly and restaurants will generally bend over backwards to be kind and ensure you can find something your kids will eat.

Yes, I know, you’ve got google translate but you might not always have time to grab your phone or your data might be used up so here is my list of useful phrases. Basically, they’re all variants of ‘can you make that plain, my kid is too fussy to try interesting food?’

1. ¿Tiene comida simple?  – ‘Do you have plain food?’

Best used when you’re anywhere an adult might actually like to eat, where food is interesting and has flavour.

(these amazing tostadas can be found in Coyoacán, Mexico City)

2. “Sin nada, por favor” – with nothing, please

chilaquiles in Mérida, probably need to ask for this ‘sin nada’!

‘With nothing please’ otherwise you risk contamination by salad, condiments or even refried beans. You can even emphasise this with a ‘nada de nada‘ when the waiter looks at you as if you’re insane.  I’ve had to order ‘sin ensalada‘ – without salad, ‘sin frijoles‘ – without beans, ‘sin salsa‘- without sauce, ‘sin queso‘ – without cheese, many a time.

Mérida is a great city to explore with kids, it’s incredibly family friendly.

3. “Solo con…”  – only with

‘Only with’ – basically another way of ensuring the food comes as dull as possible. I regularly follow up my ‘sin nada’ with ‘solo con…’ for example, ‘pizza solo con queso‘ – pizza with only cheese’, or ‘hamburguesa solo con carne‘ – burger only with meat, or ‘quesadilla solo con queso‘, quesadilla with only cheese.

Great veg burger in Bacalar

Seriously, don’t risk the contamination people, you know it’ not worth the effort of licking off salsa or picking bits of salad out of a melted cheese sandwich. You’ll only have yourselves to blame if you don’t follow my tips.

Guadalajara may be a big city but that just means tons of fun stuff for kids to do and see. 

4. “¿Es possible sin…?”  – Is it possible without…?

‘Is it possible without…?’ Yup. More requests to remove the good stuff.

Sin salsa (without sauce), sin queso (without cheese), sin verduras (vegetables), sin carne (meat), sin frijoles (beans,) sin mantequilla (without butter).

Mexico City is an absolute favourite with my kids. Have you taken yours?

5. “¿Tiene quesadillas?” – Do you have quesadillas?

‘Do you have quesadillas? For when you give up and just accept your kids are eating quesadillas for a week. Even when they’re not on the menu, most places will rustle up a quesadilla or two for a child. I refer you to the text above though to ensure your quesadilla is nice and plain!

Did you know that the Copper Canyon, in the north of Mexico makes an amazing trip for families?

6. ¿Tiene un menu infantil?  – Do you have a kids’ menu?

‘Do you have a kids’ menu?’ Many places will have a kids’ menu and it’ll be stuffed full of burgers, pizzas and quesadillas, possibly even a sandwich or two. And it’ll generally have pictures too.

7. Lo siento, mi hija es una pinche chamaca berrinchuda / mi hijo es un pinche chamaco berrinchudo

I’m sorry, my daughter/son is a fucking trickster. If you remove the ‘pinche‘ then you remove the ‘fucking’ and this is a little more polite! I only include this in case you’re at the stage of wanting to pull out your own hair whilst trying to persuade your little darling to eat more than a plate of fries while you try to enrich their lives culturally and gastronomically.

Hopefully, you’ll never need these phrases and can skip straight on to my articles about where to take kids to eat in Mérida and how to order fabulous Mexican breakfasts. If you’re visiting Mérida and are interested in vegan restaurants, I also have you covered.